


Blood Lingers

by KissYourSanityGoodbye



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Difference, Angst, Cas is 17, Dean Saves Castiel, Dean is 25, Fluff, Haunted Houses, Human Castiel, Hunter Dean, Hurt/Comfort, Impala Sex, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Gabriel, Reunions, dropout sam, hunt gone complicated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-04 20:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KissYourSanityGoodbye/pseuds/KissYourSanityGoodbye
Summary: It should've been a simple hunt. Find whatever was tethering the homicidal ghost to the house and torch it. Things got complicated when the house's new owner moved in. Things gotten even more complicated when Dean discovers he has a thing for the owner's teenage cousin.





	1. Chapter 1

With Sam snoring in the backseat Dean tried to keep his phone conversation as hushed as he possibly could. They both have been running on fumes for the past couple weeks. Whenever the boys think they've finally caught a break they get a distressed phone call from a fellow hunter who's heard of a possible case but is too 'far away' to deal with it.

Whatever. Dean supposes it's better this way. If he gets too much time alone too think he'll inevitably start to spiral into a deep depression. Sammy doesn't need that shit to deal with. He's already too preoccupied with Dean's mental state as it is, going so far as to drop out of Stanford before he even turned 21.

Dean would've stopped him if he knew it was coming. One day he was fighting the good fight against creatures that go bump in the night alone and the next his genius yet paradoxically idiotic brother is standing outside his motel room freshly dropped out.

Dean doesn't know where Sam got the idea that he needs looking after but he suspects Dad must have planted it in his head somehow. Dean's four years older than Sam he doesn't need his little brother to monitor him for God's sake. However, he must admit he likes having Sammy around regardless of the circumstances,  _fabricated_ circumstances Dean might add, that brought him here.

"Dean, you there?" the hunter on the phone asks.

"Yeah, I heard you. Possible haunting in Stratton, Nebraska. Send us the address and my brother and I will get right on it."

The other hunter thanks him and Dean hangs up the phone. He signals to merge onto the highway that heads south towards Nebraska. He accidentally hits a pothole and Sam jolts awake with a snort. "Huh? What's happening?"

Dean winces,"Sorry, dude. Pothole."

Sam glances at the highway signs telling him they were no going in the exact opposite direction. "Dean, where are we going?"

"I just got a call about a possible haunting down in Nebraska.I promised we would go check it out."

Sam fixes him with an unimpressed stare in the rearview mirror. "You promised we would go to Bobby's and take it easy for a little while. We've been hunting nonstop for weeks. It can't be healthy!" The ' _for you'_ at the end of the sentence was left unsaid but Dean heard it all the same.

"You're overreacting, Sammy. And besides, this case sounds real promising. An old guy was butchered in his own living room, all the doors were locked and there's no sign of a forced entry."

"It's kind of sick that you refer to that as 'promising'". Sam sighs and rubs his eyes, "But you're right that does sound right up our alley."

Dean grins, "I knew you'd see it my way."

.......

The house in question had been put up on the market after its owner was slashed to pieces. Dean figured that they had some time to inspect the place before anyone buys it despite the tempting "three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one homicide scene " the house contains. He was wrong.

"Dude, check out all the creepy shit they left behind in the closet," Dean says holding up a dingy Raggedy Ann doll. He throws it at Sam who squawks and tells him to "cut the shit."

Dean would but he can't pass up the treasure trove of creepy shit in the closet. There's got a be a clue as to what the fuck happened in there somewhere. "Come on, Sammy, look at this stuff! Maybe we're looking at a case of a cursed object." He picks up a headless baby doll, "This thing has cursed murder baby written all over it."

"Can I help you, gentlemen?"

Dean jumps slightly at the man's voice and does _not_ yelp because that would be extremely unprofessional. Dean drops the headless doll and turns around to see not a man but a teenaged boy who couldn't be older than sixteen or seventeen.

Sam rushes to explain their presence first, "We're health inspectors. We're inspecting the building for any hazards before anyone new moves in here."

The boy raises an unconvinced eyebrow, "Right, well, my family is moving in right now. Are cursed objects one of the hazards we should be concerned about?"

Fuck, this kid's family was moving in _today?_ Who the fuck jumps at the chance to move into a murder house?

A man that's slightly shorter than the teenage boy with shoulder length brown hair comes and claps the boy on the shoulder, "So Cassie, how do you like your new- hey who the hell are you guys?"

Dean introduces themselves this time, "I'm Mr. Fletch and this is Mr. Chase, we're County Code enforcers."

"We just got this house inspected a week ago. They said we were fine to move in immediately."

Dean chuckles, "Of course they did. Which crackpot did they send? Stanley? Bob?"

The man and the boy stare at them with twin squinted eye expressions. The man looks too young to be his father but they must be related somehow.

Sam clears his throat awkwardly, "Right, well, our office found conflicting statements in our reports leading us to believe that the previous inspection was botched so by law must conduct the inspection all over again. We are very sorry for the inconvenience Mr..."

"My name is Gabriel."

"Right, so Gabriel, we're sorry for the inconvenience but we're gonna need your family to vacate the premises for one more night."

Gabriel shakes his head in understanding and Dean thinks they may have actually pulled this off and then he says, "Okay, I'm completely understand. So the answer is no."

Sam looks caught off-guard, "No?"

"My cousins have been through enough crap these past few weeks and I'll be damned if I make them spend another night in a crab-infested hooker motel."

The boy wrinkles his nose, "Gabe, those motels were probably STD-free before you spent the night in them." Dean looks at the teenager in surprise. Jesus, he's got a mouth on him. Figuratively speaking of course! Although, there's nothing wrong with his actual mouth which are two pink slightly chapped pouty- _jesus, where the fuck are you even going with this thought, Dean?_

The boy catches Dean staring and Dean quickly flicks his eyes to the wall, feigning as if he's inspecting for asbestos as if he knows what that actually even looks like. "Look man," Dean says, "I'm not I get it. I used to get dragged all over the country to skeezy motel after skeezy motel.”

“That sounds alarming.” The teenage boy quips.

“No that’s not what i-“ Dean sighs and pinches his brow and Sam steps in.

"What my partner is trying to say is that we get it, all right? It’s a shitty situation but it’s for the safety of your family.”

The earnestness in Sam’s voice seems to finally break through to Gabriel, “Fine, you guys get one one day, but tomorrow we’re moving in, asbestos filled walls or not.”

……

Sam and Dean watch Gabriel corral his younger cousins back into their truck full of boxes from the driveway. It’s a small family: only Gabriel, the teenage boy Gabriel called Cassie, and a skinny kid who looks to be about ten years old. It's a strange crew. Dean wonders what the story behind that family is.

No time to ruminate on it though because they now have a 24 hour deadline to find whatever is haunting the house before Gabriel’s family moves in.

Sam and Dean kick into double time. They interrogate the cleaning lady who came twice a month. After inspecting their FBI badges carefully she lefts them into her living room and spins them a terrible tale about her former employer.

Apparently the dude was a total dick. He was always shouting and swearing at the maid and presumably his daughter. The daughter had eventually hung herself. The housekeeper says “I never met her since she died nearly two decades ago but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was suicidally depressed living in that man’s household. He was always yelling. Yelling at me, yelling at well-meaning neighbors to 'go away'. I never really listened to the town gossip but rumor has it that the man had done unspeakable things to that poor girl and got her pregnant. They were never able to prove anything because she went missing for a couple years before she showed back up in her daddy's house swinging from the rafters."

"What happened to the baby?" Sam asks.

"Nobody knows. We all just assume she got an abortion or it miscarried. Either way, that baby is way better off dead than being born into a family like that."

They ask where the girl and her father were buried and discover to their dismay that both were cremated. They thank the woman for her help and head back to the house.

Sam blows air at through his mouth, "Man. That was one fucked up story. It makes me sick."

"Can't say I'm torn up that the creep got what he deserved," Dean agrees. "But we still gotta take care of that girl's ghost just in case she decides to go after somebody innocent."

Sam nods sagely. "Still though. To have something like _that_ happen to you? Why would she ever go back to that house in the first place after something like that?"

"It's a tough world out there for unwed pregnant women with an incest baby."

When Sam says nothing Dean continues,"Since her body is already ashes, I'd be willing to bet anything on that chick's ghost being tied to one of those creepy toys we found in the closet."

Back at the house they begin their search upstairs and split up into each bedroom. Dean is what he believes must have been the dead girl’s bedroom up to his arms in creepy doll parts. He has no idea what could be significant to the girl so he just puts everything into a cardboard box to burn. When the closet is empty he leaves to find Sam.

“Sam I got a box full of creepy crap to burn, please tell me you _didn’t_ find anything else cause this box is-“ he rounds the corner to see the teenage leaning against the wall with an unimpressed eyebrow raised.

“Son of a-“ Dean drops the box in surprise and then coughs to cover up his slip. “Hey uh... Cassie? Watcha doing back here?”

“It’s Castiel and you guys are fucked.”

Dean is momentarily at a loss for words. "Pardon me?”

"Gabriel suspects you guys aren't real inspectors so he drove to the County Office to find out. He took my brother and dropped me off back here when he noticed you guys left. I'm supposed to call him if you came back."

Dean schools his face into a mask of calm and puts on his most carefree grin, "Well Gabriel is wasting his time because we are most definitely real inspectors." _Smooth one, Winchester._

 _"_ Oh yeah? Is burning the owner's property part of your job description?"

"This junk isn't yours, it belonged to the old owner."

"Well my cousin bought this house which I'm pretty sure means anything in it belongs to him."

Dean picks up a severed balding baby doll head, "Come on, Cas. You honestly think Gabe will be interested in this?"

Cas shrugs, "Hey I don't know what kind of kinky shit my older cousin could be into. The question is why do you want it?"

Dean is having trouble processing a lot of things. Mainly the challenging glint in Castiel's blue eyes.

"Look, my brother and I have reason to believe this stuff is infected with.. bedbugs. Nasty little suckers so you should be thankful we're clearing this infested crap out of here."

"Brother? If he's your brother why do you have different last names, Mr. _Fletch_?"

Jesus, this kid was sharp. "He took his wife's last name, he's the progressive sort y'know?"

"Mmhmm," is all he replies clearly not buying it.

Dean decides try turning the interrogation around, "So you've been here the whole time? Weren't you supposed to be Gabriel's watch dog?"

Castiel shrugs, "I was curious. I decided to hold off on calling him and just watch what you guys were doing."

How the fuck had Sam and Dean, both well-experienced hunters, not notice this kid lurking around? Creepy. "Dude, that's creepy."

"Says the strange man impersonating a health inspector to get his hands on a box of severed doll parts." He got him there.

 Dean sighs. "Sammy! The jig is up." Sam pokes his head out of one of the bedrooms down the hallway. His eyes widen slightly when he notices Castiel.

He joins them and asks, "What do you mean?"

"The kid figured out our scheme." Dean says and slaps a hand on Sam's shoulder, "You see, Castiel, my brother here is an avid antique doll collector and these severed parts are just about the rarest specimens in the midwest so he begged me to come out here and help him with his collection."

Sam squints at him. He hates this bit, "Oh yes, it's uh, a true passion of mine and these severed doll parts are incredibly-"

"Jesus, that's enough!," Castiel shouts. His arrogant smirk was gone and replaced with indignant anger. "Stop lying! You just said you were gonna burn that box. What the fuck is actually going on here? Tell me the truth or I swear to God I'll call the cops right now."

The cops are the last thing they need. Especially since Sam and Dean are legally dead according to police records.

Sam shrugs Dean's hand of his shoulder and Dean gives a look that says _'We don't really have much of a choice here.'_

"Okay fine." Dean sighs. He really didn't want to tell this kid the truth. He didn't want to shatter the innocent world he lived in where ghosts and demons were just Halloween costumes. "My name is Dean Winchester and this is my brother,Sam. We fight monsters. The kind that kids whisper about around campfires and hack you to pieces with their bear hands in your own house. The last owner of your guys' house was killed under suspicious circumstances and we think it may be haunted."

"I said no more bullcrap," Castiel protests, but the fire in his eyes is gone and replaced with uncertainty.

"It's true," Sam says. He whips out the puppy dog eyes for extra effect, "I don't know what we can say to make you believe us but please try and trust us. We're trying to protect you and your family."

Castiel studies them both for a long moment. His eyes linger on Dean even longer. Dean tries not to squirm under the scrutiny. Cas must see something in Dean's face to prompt him to say, "Okay, I'll help you."

Sam and Dean both look at each other. They weren't expecting anything remotely like _that_ to come out Cas' mouth. Dean was expecting him to tell him to go screw himself.

"Gee, Cas that's a real  nice offer, but-" Cas cuts Dean off effectively with a hand directly in front of face.

"Stop right there. You say you wanna help? Fine. But this is _my_ family and no one has their best interest at heart more than me." The steel in Cas' eyes tells them that this is final. "And besides, who's gonna cover for you when Gabriel's around. He's not gonna buy your Ghostsbusters crap."

"I like to think of us more as Scooby Doo and the Mystery Gang," Dean mutters. Sam shoots him a brief bitch face and shakes his head.

"Okay," Sam says. "You can help us. And you can start by getting Gabriel off our scent."

Cas pulls out his cell phone and dials Dean assumes is Gabriel's number. It rings a couple times before he picks up. "Hey Gabe," Cas says, "You can turn around and come home. The health inspector guys dropped by and said they've concluded their investigation and everything is in tip top shape.We're never gonna see them again so there's no point in reporting them."

Dean taps Cas on the shoulder and mouths ' _What are you doing?'_

Cas completely ignores him. "Okay sounds good, Gabe. See you, later."

"Dude, what was that? 'Never gonna see them again'?" Dean finger quotes. "How are we supposed to finish the job."

Cas pockets his cellphone, "Gabriel is running to the store so I bought you another hour for now. And if you can't catch the ghost today or however you deal with these things, then I'll tell you when Gabe is out and it's safe to finish your investigation."

"Uh-uh. Nope. You guys can't stay here tonight! There's a an angry depressed homicidal ghost on the loose!" Dean says. The teenage boy just blinks. Sam steps back to let them hash this out on their own.

Castiel walks down the hallway and turns left. Dean looks to Sam who has just as perplexed as he is. The fuck is wrong with this kid? They follow Castiel who's waiting at the end of the second hallway.

Castiel opens a bedroom door, "If I tell Gabriel I want this to be m bedroom he won't go in it so I can have my space. After he goes to bed I can just crash in one of the other bedrooms."

Dean and Sam are both thoroughly confused over where Cas is going with this. It must be evident on their faces because Cas rolls his eyes as if he's already grown weary of the Winchesters.

"You don't wanna leave us alone with a bloodthirsty ghost? Fine. Just don't leave."


	2. Chapter 2

Sam and Dean made themselves scarce before Gabriel and Cas' brother came back home with the groceries. They decided to go burn the creepy stuff they found in an empty field they passed on the drive up. Cas called them around 9 o'clock to tell them Gabriel fell asleep to let them know they were safe to sneak back in.

Castiel opened the back door and signaled for them to be quiet. He led them up the staircase which was mercifully devoid of creaky floorboards. Dean feels kind of silly all of sudden. It's like he's back in high school sneaking into the house of a girl he wants to hookup with. Except this is Cas' house and he's a twenty-five year old man on a job.

Cas pushes open their bedroom door, "Luckily we had two spare twin mattresses from when Samandriel and I used to have bunk beds." True to his word there were two mattresses side by side on the floor with some pillows and blankets folded in a pile atop each.

"Thanks, Cas" Dean says. "You're really helping us out here. We're pretty sure we torched whatever is tethering the ghost here but we wanna stay tonight just to be sure."

Cas simply nods. He turns to leave but then says in a creepily stoic tone, "If you guys aren't who you say you are I keep a knife under a pillow and I'm within screaming distance of Samandriel's and Gabe's bedrooms."

Before Sam and Dean even react Cas faces transforms into a sweet smile, "Goodnight." He shuts the door.

Dean huffs, "That dude might be scarier than any homicidal she-ghost we encounter tonight."

......

After Castiel returns to his bedroom he wonders not for the first time if he's making a mistake in trusting the Winchesters. Their story is just completely insane. No logical-thinking person could ever believe in malevolent spirits haunting the living.

And yet, Castiel is inclined to believe them because he's always had this _feeling_ there's more than just this superficial world in which he leaves. That something supernatural lurks just beneath this plane of reality.

Castiel shakes his head. He really needs to get some sleep.

He lies down for almost an hour in the dark before he kicks off his sheets in frustration. It may be the fear of a ghost looming in the corner, or the very attractive man just down the hall but it's probably just stress in general.

These past few weeks have been hard on his entire family.

Castiel quietly pads down to the living room. He obviously isn't going to be getting any sleep any time soon so he may as well be productive and start unpacking some of their boxes. He grabs a knife with a serrated edge from the already opened box of utensils and starts cutting open the tape on a large box with the title "Gabriel's Shit."

He hears something walking loudly down the stairs and he freezes. _It can't be the ghost_ , he rationalizes in his head, _Ghosts don't walk. They float. I think._

The loud something rounds the corner and Castiel relaxes when he sees that it's just Dean. Dean raises an eyebrow, "You were serious about the knife?"

Castiel looks to his right hand and sees he had been holding up the kitchen knife defensively. Dean says, "Hate to break it to you, buddy, but that thing could only cut through a lemon."

Castiel sets down the knife annoyed, "This is not the knife I keep under my pillow. And you scared me! I thought you were the ghost."

Dean has the decency to look mildly guilty, "Sorry about that. I heard something downstairs and I came to check it out."

"What if I had been Gabriel?"

"I knew it wasn't Gabe because I can hear him snoring all through the whole house."

Castiel listens and he can hear the tell-tale sound of congested chainsaw reverberating throughout the whole house. "Oh, I didn't notice it. I guess I got used to hearing it every night in the motel rooms we shared."

Dean looks like he wants to ask him something personal but he must change his mind because instead he asks, "Please tell me that's not an actual box of Gabriel's shit."

"To be perfectly honest I wouldn't be shocked if it were. My cousin is fond of practical jokes." Cas opens the box warily and then rolls his eyes, "We're fine. It's just his stash of candy he bought half off the day after Halloween." Cas pulls out a cherry lollipop for himself and tosses Dean a bag of mini kitkats, "You can have those if you want them."

Dean looks at the bag of candy in his hands and laughs softly, "Thanks, Cas."

He shrugs, "It was the least I could do. You are protecting us from the big bad ghost after all."

......

 _Cas is cute,_ Dean thinks before he can shut that thought down. He's better prepared for the accompanying stream of thoughts that threaten to flood his brain when Cas unwraps the cherry lollipop and pops it in his mouth.

Cas begins to cut open another box and after an unsure moment Dean takes a knife out of his pocket and starts helping him unpack. Cas gives him an inquisitive look and Dean shrugs, "I have to stay awake for a couple more hours before it's Sam's shift anyway. I may as well help you out."

"You really don't have to," Cas says.

"I want to."

They unpack boxes in comfortable silence for the next ten minutes. Every once in a while Dean would hold something up and Cas would direct him to where he should put it. For the most part Dean tried to use common sense.

Dean opened up a an unmarked box, mildly worried it would be a box of Gabe's sex toys, and it instead found it full of framed family pictures. He pulled back the bubble wrap on a photo of a baby, a young boy with dark hair and blue eyes (probably Cas), and a boy in his early teens that looks vaguely like Cas but with lighter hair in the middle of both of them.

"That's my older brother, Jimmy," Cas says from behind his shoulder. Dean starts just a little. "The baby is Samandriel and the other boy is me."

Something in Cas' voice makes Dean hesitate before asking, "Is Jimmy moving in with you guys?"

"No. He's dead. Car crash," Cas says with a flat voice. He takes the picture frame and sets it on a side table and then he starts cutting open another box.

"I'm sorry," Dean says lamely. He knows those words mean nothing when someone you care about dies. Jesus, if Sammy ever died... "My mom died when I was four."

Cas nods, "I'm sorry about your mom."

They continue to unpack until Dean starts to yawn. Which triggers Castiel into yawning.

"We should both get some rest." Cas says, "I'm pretty sure my house is ghost-free. If it was even haunted in the first place."

"Cas, what part of butchered to pieces don't you get? I _saw_ the pictures. They were fucked up."

Castiel looks intrigued, "Can I see them?"

Dean looks at him with wide eyes, "And you're a different kind of fucked up." And why was it kind of hot?

Cas shrugs, "Well I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Dean."

"Goodnight, Cas."

Cas smiles softly and climbs with stairs. Dean shakes his head as if it will erase the blush staining his cheeks. He does a perimeter check of the house with his EMF reader. He's alarmed when it starts buzzing off the rails until he spies the telephone pole out the window he failed to notice earlier. So much for that.

Dean goes upstairs and slumps against the wall of his bedroom. He's supposed to wake up Sam for his shift any minute now, but he thinks he'll let him sleep a couple more hours. The guy looks exhausted.

.........

Dean is woken up at three in the morning by screaming. Shit, he must have fallen asleep without waking Sam. Sam bolts upright in bed and they both share a look before bolting out of their room.

They follow the screaming down the stairs to find Samandriel with his mouth agape. There's broken glass at his feet. He must have gotten up to get a glass of water. Cas is kneeling by him with a huge hunting knife on the floor next to him. Cas asks, "Samandriel, what's wrong?".

Samandriel points a shaking finger at the wall. They all look at the wall he's pointing at. In what appears to be fresh blood, someone wrote the words _GET OUT._ The words are still dripping.

Cas looks at Dean with wide, scared eyes. He's gone pale all over and he looks likes he's having trouble keeping both himself and his trembling little brother upright. It makes Dean's chest hurt. "Sam, go check the other rooms on this floor for messages." Sam nods and leaves.

"Cas, do you know where this blood could have-"

"The fuck is going on down here!?" Gabriel is at the bottom of the staircase wearing pajamas and a downright _pissed_ expression. "Mr. Fletch, you have two seconds to tell me why you're in my house before I call the cops."

"Gabriel," Cas says quietly, "They're here to help."

"Help?" Gabriel looks at Cas with incredulity in his eyes, "Castiel, did you let him back into this house?"

"Gabe, there's something wrong with this house. And it's not an asbestos problem. Look at the wall."

Gabe moves to stand next to Cas and looks at wall. "That's- Jesus, Fletch did you do this?"

Dean holds up his hands, "I didn't do this, okay? You have a ghost problem. My brother and I our here to help you, we deal with these kinds of things all the time."

"Jesus, Cassie you let the other guy in here, too?"

As if on cue, Sam pops back into the room, "All the other rooms are clean." He takes in the very angry older cousin in matching candy pajamas. "Is everything okay in here?"

Gabriel smirks, "Oh yeah, everything's peachy. I'm thrilled there are two insane fake health inspectors in my house terrorizing my cousins."

"Your family is in danger," Dean insists, "You need our protection."

"Look, pal," Gabriel pokes Dean's chest, "Let's pretend you're not a lunatic. If my family's is in danger I can protect them myself."

"Oh yeah," Dean snorts, "Your emergency response time is stellar."

"I sleep in the nude. You should be grateful I took an extra few second to pull on pajamas over my junk."

In his peripheral vision he can see Sam scrunching his nose in disgust. "Dude,gross."

"Not the time,Sammy"

Gabriel forcefully opens the front door, "You two need to leave. Now. Before I call the cops."

Sam and Dean share a look. They can't let themselves be caught by the police again. Sam asks in his most placating tone, "Can you let us get the stuff we left upstairs first. Please?"

Gabriel begrudgingly assents, "Fine, but make it quick. And I'm watching your every move." He follows them up the stairs and watches them like a hawk as they collect their duffel bags. Dean thanks their lucky stars they hadn't unpacked any of their weapons, yet. No way Gabriel wouldn't call the cops after that.

When Gabe's back is turned Dean signals Sam to take a bit longer than necessary to pack the few flannel shirts sprawled on his bed. Sam nods minutely and Dean ducks out of the room real quick. He has to get something to Cas' room.As Gabriel is ushering them out the front door Dean casts one more look over his shoulder at Cas. He looks worried, and there's a deep sadness in his blue eyes.

_Don't worry, Cas. We're not leaving you guys like this._

_......._

After the Winchesters leave and Samandriel is tucked fitfully back into bed, Gabriel whirls onto Castiel. "Castiel, how could you let two strangers into our house!?"

"We both know how you got this house for so cheap. Some guy was butchered in this house, a house which was locked in at the time!"

Gabriel rolls his eyes, "Okay, yeah that was kind of fucked up but a ghost? Really, Castiel?"

Castiel levels his cousin with a glare, "Don't look at me like that. I'm not crazy."

Gabriel sighs deeply, "Look, I know things have been hard since Jimmy and your parents died. And I said nothing when you started to looking into all that afterlife crap. I can get why you want to believe in the spirit realm or whatever, but we do _not_ have a ghost in this house."

"Why would I _want_ an evil spirit in our house? " Cas asks incredulously. "It killed the last owner and if we don't let the Winchesters help us it's going to get us, too."

Gabriels groans in frustration, "Open your eyes, Castiel! _They_ wrote that bloody message. Those sick freaks must get off on scaring the shit out of people. God knows how messed up they are, and you let them into our goddamn house!" Gabriel must be really mad if he's yelling this loud. Cas has never seen him be anything other than his easygoing, fun-loving cousin.

Castiel throws up his hands and walks away, "I can't talk to you when you're being like this. I'm going to bed." He marches up the stairs and slams the bedroom door before Gabe can say anything else.

He flops onto his bed and rubs his face. What are the supposed to do now? He wants to believe the Winchesters won't give up on them so easily. Before Gabe kicked them out, Dean had looked at him in this _way_ that was just... Cas doesn't know how to explain in. He hasn't known the man for very long at all, but for some reason he trusts him.

Cas hadn't been sure he completely bought the ghost story until he saw the bloody message on the wall. Where did all that blood come from? He shudders at thought of something coating it's hand in blood and staining the wall as if this were preschool and it was time to finger paint. Cas appreciates the creepier shit in life but not when it's one floor down while he's fast asleep.

Cas shifts and he hears something crinkle beneath his head. He reaches underneath his pillow and finds a note.

_Cas,_

_Please call when you find this note._

_-Dean_

Beneath the message was a phone number which Cas dialed in his phone so fast he almost dropped it.

It rang twice before he answered. "Cas?"

"Hello, Dean. I take it you still intend to help us?"

"Of course we are, Cas. I'm not just gonna abandon you." A man's voice which must belong to Sam says something indistinct in the background and Dean grumbles "Shut the fuck up, Sammy. Sorry about that, Cas."

"So what happens now?" Castiel asks.

"We burned all the weird crap we found in the closet so that means the ghost haunting your house must be connected to something else. Did you find anything else out of the ordinary that Sam and I might have missed?"

"Not that I've noticed. Except for maybe..." Cas trails off as he slides of the bed and examines an anomaly on his bedroom wall. There's a slight indent in the wall in the shape of a large square. "I think there was something in the wall that got wall-papered over. Hold on a second."

Dean patiently waits on the line as Castiel takes out his knife and cuts into the indents in the ugly striped wall paper. He peels back the paper to find a dumbwaiter shaft. He hold the phone in between his ear and shoulder and pulls the rope until the dumbwaiter slides up.

"Oh God."

"What is it, Cas?" Dean asks alarmed.

"I know where all that blood came from." Sitting in the middle of the dumbwaiter was mutilated stray cat. It's scant fur was matted with still damp blood and its face was frozen in animalistic terror. "There was a hidden dumbwaiter in my room. There's a very murdered cat in it."

"Shit," Dean swears, "Do you uhh... see anything else?"

Cas rolls his eyes even though Dean can't see it. "Do you want me to look under the dead cat?"

"No, forget the dead cat," Dean says. Cas hears Sam exclaim, "What!?" in the background. Dean ignores him. "Like is there anything... around it?"

Castiel grimaced as he stuck his head further into the dumb waiter to look. The cat was already starting to smell foul. "There's some bones in here."

"Human bones?"

"No. I think they belonged to rats." Cas shifts the cat over, and sees a blue gingham book. "I found a book."

"What's it say?"

There's not much written in the book. It's more of an album for... "It doesn't say anything substantial. There's some poetry and sappy quotes, but there's stuff taped in here, too. There's a lock of hair, and some baby teeth. Ew there's a sock."

"So it's a baby album?"

"That's what it looks like."

"Well it's full of human remains so we have to salt and burn it pronto."

Castiel checks the digital clock plugged in next to his mattress. It's display reads four a.m. "Can it wait till later in the morning?"

"No way, Cas. You guys are still in trouble." Something shuffles in the background and he hears a car door slam, "Sam and I can be back at your house in ten minutes. Can you sneak out with the album?"

Castiel cocks his head to the side. Sure enough, he can hear Gabriel's grating chainsaw snore through the walls. "Yes, don't come up to the house, your car is too loud. I'll be waiting at the end of the driveway a bit down the road."

"See you in ten."

Castiel hangs up the phone and digs actual clothes out of the duffle bag full of clothes he has yet to unpack. He changes out of his pajamas, grabs the slightly bloody baby album, and then carefully creeps down the stairs and out of the house.

Five minutes later he can hear the rumbling purr of the Winchester vehicle coming up the street. He hopes he's far away enough from the house. Gabriel is already beyond pissed at home.

Dean pulls the car up and rolls down the window, "Hey, Cas. Did you bring the book?"

He nods and holds it up. Dean makes to grab for it and but he pulls it back out of his reach, "What are we going to do with it?"

Dean screws up his face a bit, "Me and Sam are going to burn it. And  _you_ are going back your house." He reaches for the book again and Cas pulls it further out of reach, "C'mon, Cas. You're already way more involved in this than you should be."

"I'm going with you to burn this stupid book," Cas insists, "It's _my_ family in there that's being terrorized. I'm not letting you leave without making sure it's destroyed."

Something that looks an awful lot like hurt creeps into Dean's eyes, "Don't you trust me, Cas?"

"Dean, please."

Sam clears his throat uncomfortably in the passenger seat at the exchange. Dean tosses a glare at him then says, "It's not safe. We don't know how this thing is going to react when we torch its tether to this world."

"We don't know that it won't kill me in my sleep before you get the chance to burn it," Cas retorts.

Dean purses his lips, "Fine, get in the back."

Cas slides into the backseat and Dean drives off to find a safe place to burn the book. After a few minutes of silence Sam says, "So, is this kidnapping? Are we technically kidnapping him."

"Well," Cas says, "I'm seventeen, so technically yes."

"Whatever," Dean says, "Just add it to the ever growing list of our crime sprees."


	3. Chapter 3

They find an abandoned field far enough from Cas' house to burn and salt the book without attracting any unwanted attention.

Dean turns around to face Cas, "Any chance I can convince you stay in the car while we burn the book?"

"Not an ice cube's chance in hell," Cas retorts.

"Okay, great awesome," Dean gets out of the car. Sam and Cas follow suit. Dean is torn. A part of him is inexplicably thrilled Cas is here. For reasons he doesn't understand the Cas has already become important to him, more so than any person he meets on a hunt that he feels the need to save.

The other part of him is angry with himself for getting Cas roped into this. He hates having to expose the seedy underbelly that is the supernatural world to Cas. Even though he acts older than he is, the guy is still seventeen. He deserved at least a few more oblivious years if he couldn't have a lifetime.

Sam digs a shallow hole and they drop the book inside. It seems odd that the father would have a baby album of his daughter at all considering the major prick he was, but not all fathers are bad at first. Dean sure as hell knows that.

Dean gives the album a healthy sprinkle of salt, but hesitates before striking a match, "I have no idea how this thing is going to react once we torch it, so stay on guard."

Cas nods sagely. Dean scans his face. The boy appears unruffled, but Dean can see his skin pebbling with goosebumps. Cas stares right back at Dean and raises an eyebrow that clearly communicates _'Will you get on with it?'._

Dean drops the lit match and the books bursts into flame. For the first time in years Dean steels himself. They wait in bated silence for a few seconds and nothing happens.

In a worried voice Cas asks, "Does that mean it didn't work?"

"Nah," Dean shrugs, "Sometimes they just don't violently react. It probably just doesn't have the power to. Some spirits are more powerful than others."

"I think we're in the clear," Sam says. He walks back to the Impala and puts the shovel in the trunk.

Cas doesn't move a muscle. He just keeps his eye fixed on the smoldering book slowly growing into a larger pile of ash. The fire causes shadows to dance on Castiel's face. He shouldn't be able to see them in the dark, but somehow his eyes glow an even brighter blue in the firelight. Cas is the first to break the silence, "What now?"

Dean nervously scrubs at the back of his neck, "We take you back to your house I guess."

Dean swears he sees a flicker of disappointment flash across Cas's face before his face slips back into his default state of cool teenage ennui. "Oh. Okay."

"Unless?" Dean ventures, "You don't want to go home?"

Cas shrugs, "This is the first time in weeks I've been away from family. I love the, but sometimes I just need some air."

"I understand. Sometimes I feel like smothering Sammy with a pillow in his sleep." Not really but his snoring is damn annoying sometimes.

"You guys can leave me here. We didn't go that far, I can walk home when I'm ready to go back."

Dean shakes his head, "No way, Cas. You don't have to go home, but we're not leaving you here." He wraps an arm around Cas' shoulder. "It's only 4:30 in the morning, let's see if we can find a 24 hour diner with some decent celebration pie."

Cas smiles, "I could use some pie right now."

.......

Dean had found a 24 hour diner in less than ten minutes. Castiel suspects he must have some sort of pie radar. Sam was "so hungry he could eat a person" so they decided to also have a very late dinner, or very early breakfast maybe?

"How many ghost hunts have you guys been on?" Castiel asks as soon as they find a booth and order. He's eager to learn more about the Winchesters, specifically the elder Winchester, and their world.

"Probably over a hundred by this point," Sam speculates.

"We really oughta start keeping track," Dean says.

 "What was your scariest hunt?" Castiel asks. He shouldn't be this fascinated with the world of the supernatural. He's sure he must look like stupid kid with too many questions, but he can't help himself. His whole life he's just _knew_ there was another layer to this world.

His "obsession" as Gabriel likes to refer to it only got worse after Jimmy and his parents died in the car crash. He tried holding a seance to contact them, just so he could say goodbye, but he never got a sign from them. He stopped believe for a little while, but now he has proof it exists, and two hunters to answer his questions. He can't pass that up just because he doesn't want to look stupid in front of Dean.

"For me it was the hunt with the clown that tricked those kids into letting them into their house." Sam shudders, "That was some messed up Stephen King shit."

"Aha! I knew you were afraid of clowns!" Dean exclaims so loudly that the waitress at the counter winces and glares in their direction. "Sorry," Dean says sheepishly.

"So you didn't think the clown thing was scary then?" Cas asks.

"Eh," Dean shrugs, "It was pretty creepier but I've seen scarier shit." Dean eye's glaze over for a second and he has a far away look in his eyes. Sam casts his brother such a worried look that Castiel knows better than to ask him to elaborate.

"So," Castiel segues, "There's more out there than just ghosts?"

Sam nods enthusiastically, "Oh yeah, loads more: werewolves, vampires, poltergeists, demons, pagan gods, witches..."

"Ugh, I freakin' hate witches," Dean mutters into his coffee cup. "Always spewing their liquids everywhere. Blegh."

A laugh that's almost a giggle suddenly bubbles out of Castiel. This is all so ridiculous. _He_ must sound ridiculous, But he notices Dean smiling at him all the same. And boy does it light up his handsome face. _Jesus, Castiel get it together. A worldly guy like Dean wouldn't want to be with a dumb kid like you._

"Something funny?" Dean asks.

"Yes," Castiel giggles, "But it's hard to explain. I always felt like there was something more to this world and here you are telling me that it's creepy clowns and spewing witches."

"Don't forget fairies," Sam chimes in. "Dean was attacked by TInker Bell."

"Oh, that is _so_ not what happened!" Dean smacks his hand on the table causing all their coffee cups to clatter. He proceeds to tell Castiel the _real_ story with animated gestures, his eyes flashing in excitement the whole time.

Castiel doesn't care how he's going to make it happen, but he _wants_ Dean Winchester.

 ........

Sam was practically falling asleep into his coffee cop so Dean thought it would be best to take their pies to go. Lemon meringue would probably not be a good look on Sam. Maybe they could find a good spot to stargaze while they eat their pie. It used to be a tradition for the brothers. However, Sam threw a wrench in the plans when he asked to be dropped off at the motel first.

Dean thought that since Sam was leaving then Cas would wanna bail, too. But the boy had just asked him completely at ease, "Where to now?"

So now it was just going to be Dean and Cas. That didn't make him nervous at all.

Dean found a hill overlooking town facing East so they could watch the sunrise. He shuts off the car and sits on the hood with the takeout bag from the diner. Cas gently hoists himself onto the car next to him. So close their thighs were just barely touching. _Don't let your mind wander, Winchester. Cas_ isn't _trying anything._

He pulls out his slice of apple and hands Cas his slice of cherry pie. After some rummaging he produces two plastic forks.

Cas moans obscenely around his first bite, and it does _not_ make Dean squirm a little in his jeans. It doesn't. "It's been forever seen I've eaten pie," Cas admits.

"How could that be?" Dean asks mildly affronted. And also annoyed at himself for feeling offended on behalf of a pastry. That's a new level of sad.

Castiel shrugs as he likes a bit of cherry filling that dripped down his fork. Dean forces himself to tear his eyes away and start eating his own damn pie.

"I guess my family just wasn't really a pie family," Cas shrugs. "We were more of a cookies and fun size candy family."

Dean didn't miss Cas' use of the past tense, "Were?"

Cas stilled for a moment before attempting what Dean assumes is his butchered version of shrugged nonchalance, "My parents were in the car with Jimmy when it crashed. They all died.Gabriel was staying with us because at 27 he still didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. And now I guess he won't get to find out because he has to take care of me and Samandriel."

"Hey," Dean says, "I'm sure it's not like that. My conversations with your cousin were brief and they mostly consisted of him yelling at me but I can tell he cares about you guys."

Cas fiddles with his fork and nods unconvinced.

"My dad was never around when I was little," Dean continued, "He was always off chasing another monster so it was up to me to take care of Sammy, but I never felt saddled with that responsibility because I love him. Gabe isn't doing this because he has to or feels familial obligation, that certainly didn't make my dad stay. He's doing this cause he loves you."

"Okay, Dean. I believe you."

They sit in comfortable silence for a while enjoying their pie. When the night sky begins to lighten to a dusty lavender, Cas says, "Do you like it? Hunting monsters and saving lives?"

Dean thinks about all the crap him and Sam have been dragged through because of the lives they lead. If he had the chance to walk away from it forever? Probably not. It's who he is. It's who Sam is. Even when he had the chance to become a lawyer and leave it all behind, he didn't. Because as crappy as this life was, at the end it was worth it if they can save another family from the heartbreak his own had experienced. If he could save more innocent souls like Cas.

Dean wasn't eloquent enough to voice these thoughts. Instead he smiles and simply says, "It has its moments."

Cas turns his blue gaze on him full force. "Is this one of them?"

Dean is taken aback, both by Cas' bold question and the earnest hope in his eyes. "This is one of my favorites," he says softly.

He watches Cas watch him. Watches his gaze drift over his face before zeroing in on his lips. Dean wants to kiss him. _But it's wrong,_  his brains scolds him. But Cas is _right there_ and he's gorgeous, especially shrouded in the early morning sunlight.

Screw it. He should just kiss him. He's made up his mind. He's going to-

And then Cas leans forward and kisses _him._

Cas was forceful at first but as it takes Dean a few seconds to register what's happening he grows more tentative and begins to pull back. _Oh no you don't._ Dean surges forward and recaptures Cas' lips. He traces his soft, slightly chapped lips in a gentle request for entrance.

Cas immediately complies and Dean smothers a groan. He tastes sweeter than the pie they had both just eaten. Cas leans back onto the hood of the car and pulls Dean down with him. Dean braces his arms  on either side of Cas and makes a surprised noise when his hand lands in Castiel's half-eaten cherry pie.

He pulls back to find his fingers covered with cherry filling. He's about to wipe his hands off on his own shirt when Castiel surprises him but sucking Dean's finger into his mouth. Dean doesn't bother concealing his groan this time.

Castiel already looks perfectly debauched with flushed cheeks, lust-blown pupils, and his mouth still stuffed with Dean's fingers. He releases the digits with a _pop_ and pulls Dean in for another hungry kiss.

Not too long later Dean hard-on begins to edge into borderline painful territory. He pulls back and says regrettably, "I think we need to stop."

Castiel immediately pulls his hand away, "Did I do something wrong?"

"God no," Dean places a chaste kiss between Cas' furrowed eyebrows. "You're perfect. It's just if we don't stop now, I don't think I'll be able to stop at all."

Cas smirks and grinds his hips up, "Then _don't_ stop." 

Dean groans deeply. He should stop. This is probably wrong. It's already gone too far. He really should stop. Instead, he growls, "Backseat. Now."

They both almost trip in their haste to scramble into the backseat. Dean has his mouth back on Cas the second they're more or less settled. Cas impatiently starts to tugs at the buttons on Dean's shirt until he gets with the program and unbuttons it the rest of the way.

Castiel yanks off his own t-shirt. Or at least he tries too, but his arms get stuck due to the cramped space and his shirt get stuck pulled halfway up his head. Dean laughs at his absolute lack of finesse. He makes a frustrated noise and growls at him to '"shut his face" from within his cotton confines.

Dean gently extricates Cas from his shirt and drinks him in- from his wild hair to the smooth expanse of skin now available to him. He kisses his way down Castiel's neck, pausing only briefly to suck a mark in the juncture between his neck and shoulder blade before continuing his path down to his nipples.

He latches onto a dusky nipple and sucks causing Cas to moan and keen violently against him. Dean shudders and attacks Cas' mouth with his tongue. They rock against each other well into the early morning. As the rising sun comes through the fogged windows of the impala so to do they.

..........

Castiel wakes up completely naked with an equally naked Dean wrapped around him in the backseat of the impala. He rifles around in the clothes piled on the floor until he finds the buzzing cell phone that disturbed his peaceful slumber. It's his own phone and Gabriel's calling him, no doubt losing his mind after having discovered Castiel's empty floor mattress.

"Hello?"

" _Cas!"_ Gabriel's tinny voice screeches through the speaker. Castiel winces and holds the phone away from his here. Dean shifts and scrunches his face adorably in his sleep. " _Cassie, where the hell are you!?_

"Good morning to you, too. Why on Earth are you up at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m.?"

" _Now's so not the time, dude. Where are you? I'm assuming you're okay if you're trying to act cute."_

"I'm fine, I just went out and lost track of time."

" _I_ _can't believe you just skipped out on me. You're 17 so I don't really have to worry all that much about you, but did you have to take Samandriel on a midnight adventure,too?_

Castiel sits completely upright at that. The sudden movement jostles Dean awake with a snort that Castiel would make fun of under less urgent circumstances. "Samandriel is missing?"

" _You're telling me he's_ not _with you?"_

 _"_ No, Gabriel" Castiel snaps, "Of course he's with me, I just like asking pointless questions I know the answer to?"

" _Then where the fuck is he?"_

"I'm coming home right now." Castiel hangs up the phone. How could he have been _so_ stupid? He blindly trusted that Sam and Dean had destroyed the ghost and he hadn't even bothered going home to find out for himself if it was safe.

"Cas, what's wrong" Dean asks urgently, his voice hoarse from their early morning activities.

Castiel starts pulling on his clothes, "I need to get to my house right now. My little brother is missing."

.......

As soon as the words leave Cas' mouth Dean is pulling his own clothes and jumping into the front seat. Dean called Sam and told him to drag his ass out of bed because it's an emergency. If it weren't already on the way Dean's sure Cas would be biting his head off for wasting precious time.

Dean knows that's what he'd be doing if he were in Cas' position.

Cas is sitting stock-still in silence since he told Dean Samandriel went missing. Dean wants to say something, reassure him that they'll he find his brother but they die on his tongue. Meaningless platitudes won't make Cas feel better; not when three of his family members are already dead, not when Dean has already failed in protecting his family.

Why does Dean disappoint everyone that's ever mattered in his life?

Castiel shoots out of the car before Dean pulls to a complete stop outside his house. Sam and Dean are right behind him.

Gabriel is standing on the porch in his stupid candy pajamas and his face instantly transforms into a scowl when he spots Sam and Dean. "Cas, why are you with _them_?"

Castiel is instantly in Gabriel's face. "Gabriel, this is the last time I going to tell you that Sam and Dean are here to help. And if you don't let them then you are just further hindering the rescue of Samandriel. So you either cooperate with us, or stay out of the way."

Dean is shocked at the absolute vehemence Cas defends Sam and Dean with. They practically offered Castiel's family up to the spirit in their arrogance and he still wants their help?

Gabriel rolls his eyes, "Cas, this isn't something they can help with. We should call the real cops."

"Real cops can't help us with this, Gabe," Cas insists. "And besides if they come down here and they recognize you from your record, they may start poking around and discover you bought this house with the money from your less than legitimate business practices."

Huh. So _that's_ why Gabriel hasn't called the cops on their asses. Any sane person probably would've at this point. Hell, even Dean would've.

Gabriel clicks his mouth shut and then sighs loudly. "Fine, you and the scooby gang have one hour. Here that? One and then I call the real cops."

This is so not the time. This is a dire situation. But he can't help leaning over to Sam and whispering, "Here that? He called us the scooby gang."

"So not the time," Sam grits out under his breath.

Gabriel steps aside and Castiel leads the way into the house. They split up at the top of the stairs; Cas goes to inspect Samandriel's room and Sam and Dean check out the dumb waiter in Cas' bedroom.

Dean knows they've found the dead cat before they even see it. His eyes begin to water and he sneezes thrice before they even reach the dumbwaiter. Sam grimaces as he picks up the corpse and inspects it. It's torso is hacked open, but it looks to be like it was gutted by a serrated knife rather than... whatever a ghost's preferred method  of murdering cats is.

It's very sloppy and distinctly un-spiritlike. "I think it's time we start considering we may not be dealing with a ghost."

.......

Cas wasn't sure what he find in Samandriel's room. There's no evidence of a struggle because there's nothing in the room besides his mattress. Castiel sinks down onto the floor and grasps at his hair in frustration.

Did he really think he could save Samandriel? His family is obviously cursed. Or maybe it's just Castiel who's cursed to lose everyone he loves. How can he fight against that?

Castiel heres something scratching and he looks up. He doesn't seen anything except blurry shapes and that's when Castiel realizes he had been crying. He wipes the tears out of his eyes and looks around again.

He doesn't see anything amiss, and the scratching noises have ceased. _Ugh, we probably have rats in this house, too. Just our fucking luck._

Castiel heres a soft thump from the open closet door and he whirls around. A red ball the size of his fist rolls out. "Samandriel, I swear to god if you've just been playing hide-and-seek this whole time both me and Gabriel are going to kill you."

An empty threat, of course, but Castiel wouldn't have minded getting to spend a few more hours in Dean's arms before the man likely drove out of his life forever.

"Samandriel?" Cas takes a tentative step towards the closet. He can't see a thing, which of course makes something as innocuous as a _closet_ seem so foreboding. Castiel suddenly feels silly, likes he's seven years old again and terrified of the boogey man.

 _This is ridiculous._ "Samandriel, quit playing games." Castiel strides purposefully into the closet which was deceptively smaller-looking from the outside. He fumbles around for a light switch and finally finds a string hanging from the ceiling.

The light struggles to flicker on, but when it does Castiel is face to face with a hideously pale creature. And he screams.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof I felt awkward writing this chapter. Hope it didn't make you wanna vom :)


	4. Chapter 4

The terrified scream reverberates through the house and curdles Dean's blood. He shouts for Cas and barrels down the hallway towards Castiel's room, colliding straight into Gabriel. Both men are knocked flat on their asses.

"Goddamn it, Gabe," Dean growls and hurries past him, hoping he's not too late. He finds Cas' room empty. Which he supposes is better than finding Cas in a bloody heap on the floor.

Gabriel appears in the doorway with a pissed-off glare and a worried Sam in tow, "Where the fuck is my cousin, Winchester?"

Dean ignores him and moves to examine the closet which was left flung open. He hears something rustling in the walls. It's big. And moving fast. "Whatever took Cas is in the crawl space."

"You're saying that a giant rat abducted my cousin and is taking him back to their nest?" Gabriel says.

"If you're not gonna help than just get out of here," Dean snaps. He knows he's just worried but Dean's trying really hard to keep his shit together, too. He starts shoving Cas' clothes aside to try to find a loose board.

Sam steps in to help him and he says quietly, "Dean, we have no idea what this _thing_ is."

"It doesn't matter what it is," Dean finally locates and pries off the loose board, "I'm going in after him anyway."

"Dean," Sam warns, "You can't just go in guns blazing. We need a plan before running in their blind."

"All our plans so far have failed spectacularly, Sam," Dean says frustrated, "We don't have to sit here and plan while that thing does God knows what to Cas."

"You two can stop bickering," Gabriel says from directly behind them, "Cas is my family. I'm going in after him."

"Gabriel," Sam says, "It's not safe."

"Screw safe, that's my cousin in there! You think he's safe?!"

Dean rolls his eyes. Cas doesn't have time for this. He checks that his gun is loaded and he climbs into the crawl space.

Dean hears Gabe shout, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Dean ignores him and keeps walking,thankful that the crawlspace is wide enough for him to walk and only have to duck slightly. Before he's in too deep he hears Sam sigh deeply and ask Gabe if he has any blueprints to the house.

It smells dank in here. It's not just the normal moldy, musty smell that accompanies all old houses. It smells like rotting carcasses and fecal matter. He shines the flashlight from his phone on the floor and finds the crawl space littered with split open rats that have been disemboweled. _Ugh, so that's what has been squishing under my feet._

He hears a loud thump and he follows the sound until he reaches a ladder. He climbs down it and the awful smell starts to become unbearable. He thinks he must be below the basement before his feet reach solid ground. He shines his flashlight around the underground room.

It's like something human was living down here. There's a grubby mattress on the floor and a few feet away from it there's what looks to be a makeshift crib. _The daughter never left,_ Dean realizes, _she must have moved down here to hide to keep her baby away from her shit father._ One day it must have been too much to handle, leaving behind her kid. 

Sam and Dean have been so wrong this entire time. It hasn't been a ghost terrorizing the house. It was a half-feral kid born of incest that has been living in the walls for nearly two decades. A _human_.

Dean keeps his gun raised as he warily scans the room. There's not much else except for a rocking chair, a lot more animal bones and empty cans that must have been pilfered from the kitchen, and.... Cas. He was gagged and poorly tied up. He was laying unconscious on the ground.

Dean rushes to his side. He seems mostly uninjured save for a nasty bump on his temple that was already starting to purple. He gently starts to shake Cas awake. "Cas, buddy, it's Dean. You have to get up. I'm gonna get you out here."

Cas' eyes flutter open and then widen in alarm before settling slightly. He tries to speak but his mouth is still gagged. Dean removes the strip of cloth and Cas says, "Is Samandriel here?"

Crap. Dean's ashamed to say in his frenzy to find Cas he completely forgot about his younger brother. He shines his flashlight around the dirty room until he finds Samandriel, tied up similarly to Castiel and shaking like a leaf.

"Yeah, Cas he's right over here. He's okay." He approaches the small boy and begins to untie his hands and feet. The boys eyes drift over Dean's shoulder and widen even further.

"Dean, look out!"

Dean ducks and pulls Samandriel down with him, narrowly escaping a rusty blade by a filthy hand with overgrown fingernails. He shines his flashlight in the face of the attacker, who hisses and recoils from the bright light.

It's a girl that's maybe eighteen years old he thinks. But she looks much older because of the gaunt planes of her sallow face. He points his gun to her, "Hey, now take it easy. You understand English?"

She growls at him, "Go away you immigrant whore!" Great so she can only speak in the slurs she heard her grandpa/father shouting all day long for eighteen years.

"Listen, I understand that you've had a rough go at life, okay? But we're gonna get you out of here, into a place with a real bed and some real food that doesn't have fur and rabies. You just gotta put down that knife."

"Get out of here!" she screams so loud that spit flies out of her mouth and dribbles down her chin. Jesus, maybe _she_ was rabid. She swings her knife at him again and Dean grabs her by the arm and wrestles her to the ground. But she's stronger than she looks and she's putting up a good fight.

"A little help here, Cas?"

"I would if you had thought to untie me!" Cas says while struggling with the ropes that bound his arms to his legs.

"Oh, shit yeah. My bad." Dean grunts as he finally wrestles the blade out of the feral girl's death grip. He finally has her pinned when he says, "There. You lost. Now stop fighting so we can get you some help."

The girl's face splits into a wide grin revealing sharp, crooked rotted teeth that would make a heroin user shudder. She begins to laugh maniacally and Dean asks, "What's so funny?"

Between giggles she says, "My brother's gonna git you!"

He barely has a second to register what that means when Cas yells again. A feral boy the same age as the girl has his arms locked around Cas' head with a knife to his throat. The boy says, "Get off my sister right now before I cut this towelhead's giblets out!" Man their grandpappy was a peach.

"Okay, you guys really have no concept of what racial slurs even mean do you?" Cas remarks despite the knife pressed dangerously close to his neck.

"So not the time, Cas." Dean says.

"Get off her!" the boy shouts impatiently and presses the knife in far enough to cause a faint line of blood to trickle down the column of Cas' throat.

Cas winces and Dean immediately gets off her. "Okay, I'm off! Ease up with that knife now."

"Naw," the boy says, "I wanna see what a Yankee tastes like."

At those words Dean raises his gun to shoot but the girl has already gotten up and she tackles him. She slashes him shallowly across the stomach and Dean grunts in pain before throwing her off him. He reaches for his gun but the girl kicks it away and is on top of him again trying to hack at his face. He grabs her arm and they struggle with each other.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Cas elbow the boy. He struggles to crawl away but the boy pins him on his back and raises the knife to stab Cas. With his arms still bound, Cas can do nothing to stop it.

"Castiel!"

A gun shot rings through the filthy burrow. The boy slumps onto the ground with a fresh bullet wound through his head courtesy of Sam, who stands slightly hunched in the squat room with his gun now aimed at the sister. The girl screams like an animal and races to her brother, Sam watching her like a hawk the whole time.

Dean stands and rushes to Cas' side. He looks okay except for the thin line of blood on his throat. He stills asks, "Cas, are you okay? Did he get you anywhere?"

"I'm fine," Cas insists. "Go check on Samandriel."

Samandriel is completely unharmed save for some definite emotional trauma. He sits in shocked silence as Dean removes the rest of the rope constraining his hands and feet. He unties Cas next and the second the boy is free Dean can't help himself. He pulls the boy into a tight hug. He had been so damn scared. Cas hugs him back just as fiercely, "I'm okay, Dean," he whispers, "You saved us."

The entire time the girl wails over her brother but it seems all the fight has left her. Still, Sam keeps his gun pointed as a precaution. Cas hugs a shell-shocked Samandriel close to his chest as they stand in a huddle behind Sam, staring at the girl.

"What are you going to do about her?" Cas whispers urgently.

"Get your brother back to the house," Dean says, "We're gonna try and get her out of here."

Cas nods and leads Samandriel by the hand out of the room. After a couple minutes of rustling above them they hear Gabriel's muffled voice, "Jesus, fuck I was so worried about you guys!

"We're gonna get you help," Sam says earnestly, which probably means nothing coming from her brother's killer. The girl remains draped and sobbing over her brothers corpse.

"Okay, come on," Dean bends to pick her up but her sobs turn into an angry screech as she attacks again. Sam knocks her out with the butt of his gun and she collapses into a dirty heap into Dean's arms.

"So..." Sam draws out the word with a pointed look, "the girl had a twin. Something that you could've been better prepared for if we made a plan."

Dean rolls his eyes and hoists the girl onto his shoulder, "So not the time to be smug, Sammy."

...........

Sam leaves to drop the girl off at a mental hospital. He says he's going to tell them them he found her in an abandoned cabin in the woods and that she had been eating live animals. Castiel supposes it's close enough to the truth that they could afford without calling too much attention to themselves. The doctors would probably figure out the rest later.

He knows he shouldn't feel bad for the girl, considering him and his brother were kidnapped by those feral twins, but it wasn't her fault. Not really. She never had a chance at normal. A world of dirt and savagery was all she knew.

Dean stayed back at the house to deal with the dead body. He dragged it out of the house and said he was going to burn it near where they burned the baby album. He told Cas that the last thing they needed was a vengeful incest-born ghost with a personal vendetta.

Castiel and Gabriel are sitting on the porch in silence. Dean assured that he would be back to let them know that the body was ash. True to his word, the impala rumbles up their driveway with both a ragged-looking Dean and Sam.

They both stand to greet them. Sam speaks first, "The mental hospital took the girl in right away. I don't know if they can help her, she was pretty messed up, but she won't bother you guys ever again."

Gabriel nods and says, "I guess I owe you two ass-clowns an apology. I still don't believe in all your supernatural ghost-buster nonsense, but you saved my cousins and for that I am in a debt to you."

"Don't mention it." Sam says, "We're just glad everyone is okay."

"Eh, I'm not sure 'okay' describes the situation right now. Samandriel is still catatonic, I actually better go check on him now. Thanks for everything." Gabriel salutes them both with two fingers to the forehead before bounding up the stairs into the house leaving Castiel behind with the Winchesters.

Castiel doesn't know what to say. He owes the Winchesters his life.

"You better get this checked out," Dean says as he brushes his fingers along the shallow cut on Castiel's neck. "That gross knife could've given you tetanus or something."

He can't stop himself from grabbing Dean's hand as he starts to pull it away. Sam clears his throat awkwardly, "I'll uh.. give you guys a minute. Nice meeting you, Cas." He leaves the both of them alone and Castiel drops Dean's hand suddenly feeling stupid.

The Winchesters are leaving now. They did their job and now they're moving on.

Dean speaks first, "Listen, Cas-"

Castiel interrupts him, "Thank you again, Dean. For saving us. You didn't have to go to lengths you did to protect us."

"It was really nothing, Cas. We actually screwed up this hunt pretty bad," Dean huffs with a rueful smile, "Usually we kill the monsters _before_ they hurt anyone."

"I'm okay. We're _all_ okay. And it's because of you," Castiel insists.

Dean gives him a small smile similar to the one he gave Castiel last night when they were sitting on the hood of the impala. Was it really just last night? It feels like ages ago, like he's known Dean for longer than the short span of two days. _It's only been_ two fucking days _Castiel. Last night was just a hookup and Dean Winchester is just a man you'll never see again._

They've been standing in the driveway for a few silent heartbeats, just staring at each other. Castiel breaks the trance first, "I guess you better go. You probably have more people to save."

Dean clears his throat before backing away, "Right. My brother and I just received news on another possible hunt so... I guess this is goodbye, Cas." The man was adorable even when he was awkward.

"Goodbye, Dean." Castiel says the words stoically even though he feels something heavy settle in his chest.

Dean nods curtly once before stepping into the driver's seat of his car and the Winchesters drive away with only a trail of dust in their wake.

                                                                                                                      ________________________________

_5 Years Later...._

Sam and Dean left the hunting life behind two years ago, and not a day goes by that Dean misses it. Okay, maybe that's not completely true. Dean loved the satisfaction of wiping evil hell-spawn creatures off the face of the earth one by one, and saving lives made the shit he had to endure in his own life worth it all. But, when Sammy almost died on a hunt from a stab wound, Dean decided it was time to call it quits.

He insisted that Sam go back to law school, to which he agreed, if Dean promised to give up hunting. Easiest decision of Dean's life. Now Sam is once again a nerdy student halfway to his law degree, and Dean is an ordinary guy working as a mechanic in California to help support his brother . And surprisingly, he's okay with that. He's more than okay with it.

Dean had just finished up work for the day and was heading down to his favorite diner for dinner. Normally, he eats dinner with Sam in the apartment they now share but Sam had a party to go to tonight; a celebration after surviving finals week. Dean's celebrating tonight with an extra slice a pie. He's damn happy that finals are over, too because Sam is bitchy when he's sleep-deprived.

Dean's about to sit down in his usual booth when he sees a dark-haired man with a trench coat sitting by himself at the counter. _There's something familiar about that guy,_ Dean thinks. He's probably just another regular who he sees all the time and is really just noticing now he tells himself. But that's not it. He would remember this guy.

The man turns his head slightly as the waitress asks him if he wants a refill and Dean is floored by the recognition. It's _Cas._ That kid from five years ago on that case with the crazy incest twins in Nebraska. Except he wasn't a gangly teen anymore. Mental math tells Dean that Cas is 22 now, and in the past five years he's filled out more and his face has become sharper. He's even grown in a bit of stubble.

Before Cas was hot and cute. Now he's hot and devastatingly handsome. His hair is still a wonderful mess and his eyes are as blue as they were five years ago. Dean's comforted by the fact some things never change.

Dean debates whether or not he should sit beside the man. Would Cas even remember him? Just because he's been thinking about him almost every day for the past five years doesn't mean Cas has been thinking about Dean. And if he did remember him, would he even want to see him? Castiel was of consenting age when they had sex, but he was still eight years younger than Dean. Maybe he regretted that night. And boy, did that make Dean feel like shit.

Dean decides if he doesn't sit down next to the man he couldn't get out of his head for the past five years, he could never forgive himself.

"Is this seat taken?" he asks as he pulls out the stool next to Castiel.

Cas is startled out of whatever deep thought he was having and he looks up at Dean. His eyes spark with recognition almost immediately, "Dean Winchester?" Fuck. He had forgotten what his voice sounded like. Did I get even deeper somehow?

"That's what they call me," Dean says.

Cas gapes at him like a fish out of water just long enough for Dean to start to sweat. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. "What are you doing here?" Castiel finally asks.

"Sam went back to Stanford to finish getting his law degree. So I quit hunting, got a job as a mechanic, and moved my ass down here to live with him."

"You live here?" Cas asks.

"Yeah, I share an apartment with Sam a few blocks away," Dean says. Castiel stares at him with wide eyes and Dean's starting to worry that maybe he was right and Cas had never wanted to see him again. "Uhh, you don't look all that happy to see me so maybe I should just get out of your hair."

"Dean, wait!" Castiel grabs Dean's arm before he can leave and pulls him back down to sit. He's clearly gotten stronger as well. "I'm thrilled to see you again, believe me, I'm just shocked is all. I thought I'd never see you again and now you're here. In _California._ "

"Yeah, well, I couldn't live hopping from one skeezy motel to another for the rest of my life," Dean shrugs. "What are you doing here?"

"I live near here,too. I'm attending college at UC Berkeley."

Dean smiles, "That's great, Cas. I had a feeling you were smart."

"Obviously not as smart as your brother," Cas teases, "Stanford Law?"

"Yeah, but it's not fair trying to compare yourself to Sam. He's some sort of scientifically engineered super nerd."

Cas laughs and Dean only realizes now how he's been missing the sound of it for years. They spend the next hour catching up on the last five years of each other's lives. Eventually Cas asks, "What made you guys give up hunting?"

"Sam got hurt real bad on a hunt. Like, I was about to have to start thinking about picking out coffins bad, and I realized that I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't keep endangering Sammy's life with our endless obsession. So I pushed him to go back to school and he kinda just pulled me with him I guess."

Cas nods, "Well, I'm really glad you got out. Ever since you left, I was worried that one day some monster would get you before you could kill it."

"You worried about me?" Dean asks surprised.

Cas blushes a bit, "Well, I mean, yes. You saved my family's life, and in the short time I knew you I grew to care about you." Castiel blushes even deeper at the admission and takes a sip of his coffee.

"Cas, I've haven't been able to get you out of my head since I left," Dean says.

Cas sets down his cup and stares at Dean with widened eyes. "Oh," he breathes.

They stare at each other for a long time. More than once Dean's gaze drifts down to Cas' perfect lips, but he doesn't berate himself because he notices Cas doing the same. The spell is broken when the waitress asks if they'd like anything else.

"Just a slice of cherry and apple pie to go please," Castiel says. "Dean, would you like to come back to my place?"

Dean could kiss him right now. He does. Castiel smiles into the kiss, and Dean could die on the spot he's so fucking happy he moved to California.

...........

Castiel is so fucking happy he ran into Dean in California.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hoped you like it so far :) this work is loosely based off of season 4, episode 11.


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